MONROE — Bond was set at $20,000 on Monday in Green County Circuit Court for an Albany man charged with possessing numerous images of child pornography on electronic devices.

Jerry A. Pagel is charged with three felony counts of child pornography, and misdemeanor resisting or obstructing a police officer. Monday’s bond hearing was the first appearance in court for the defendant, who joined the proceedings via video link from jail.

District Attorney Craig Nolen asked Circuit Judge Faun Phillipson for a significant cash bond amount, he said, due to the “nature and number of the offenses,” allegedly committed by the defendant.

Pagel, 67, Nolen added, also sought to get away from police trying to search his house. “When law enforcement went to execute their search warrant … he fled,” said Nolen.

According to a criminal complaint against the defendant: … “(he) presented himself at the front door and observed law enforcement before then closing and re-locking the door and retreating back into the dwelling.”

Pagel told investigators he fled because he thought the team raiding the house were from ICE, the federal immigrations and customs enforcement agency. But investigators said in the complaint they repeatedly yelled that they were from the Green County Sheriff’s Office — yelling that could be heard some distance away from the defendant’s front door.

Pagel’s attorney, meanwhile, David R Ewert, said his client has been available for all court dates thus far; and has no intention to flee.

“That (Pagel’s previous court dates) points to, if he was a flight risk, he would have taken it,” Ewert told the judge.

The investigation into Pagel was initiated by local police following up on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which monitors computer activity nationwide for child porn activity, according to court records. The tip led to a search warrant executed on Pagel’s home on February 5.

That’s when four devices were taken from his house, including several computer hard drives and a Motorola phone. Investigators noted that one of the devices contained over 100,000 images, not all of them pornography. But once such image was flagged several times by various investigators, and others were clearly alleged child pornography, including pre-pubescent children.

“Although not the highest quality, you can observe that the child is not wearing a bottom or underwear,” an investigator says of one of the images. “The focal point of this image being the child posed in a sexual manner.”

Other evidence obtained from the material allegedly shows a male with a female underage victim having sex on a short video clip. “The child’s eye are closed and she has a look of discomfort/pain on her face,” the investigator said, in the criminal complaint.

Each count of possession of child pornography carries a potential prison sentence of up to 25 years, as well as hefty fines that could top $100,000.

As conditions of Pagel’s bond, the defendant was ordered to have no use of electronic media devices such as cell phones and computers, no use of the internet whatsoever; and no contact with anyone under 18, except for incidental contact. And Pagel was ordered not to leave Wisconsin without court approval, and “not be present at any daycares, schools, parks, public forests, public beaches, or premises that are primarily designed to be frequented by minors or families with minors.”

His next court appearance, a preliminary hearing, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, also before Phillipson.

According to court records, Pagel has no other criminal history in Wisconsin.